Grocery Store Angst

I watched a Jamie Oliver clip last week. About ground beef and the ammonia used in 70% of this country's ground beef to keep it "clean". I'd seen the pink slime video awhile back as well. I find Oliver's passion for and commitment to healthy eating inspiring. And, right or wrong, I react viscerally to his dramatic visuals--I'm not claiming here to have done any personal research into ammonia or pink slime. They just freak me out.

Ammonia in our beef

So, my commitment to choosiness when buying meat was pretty high when I went grocery shopping yesterday. Ground beef was on my list, and I didn't have time to go to the farmers' market. Walking past the meat section, I noticed they had some "ground in-house" beef. Emboldened by knowledge of ammonia, I pointed to it and asked about that. The butcher confirmed that they ground it in-house, but looked askance as he did so. Hmmm. So, what cuts of meat do you use, I asked? Turns out, they empty out tubes of coarse-ground lean beef, run it through their grinder for a finer rendering, and call it ground in-house. The higher fat version can more honestly be said to be made in-house--they grind up the fatty trimmings from meat they butcher on-site. Damn. Not what I wanted to hear.

What to do? Well, I walked away from the butcher and threw a package of veggie crumbles (soy-based fake ground beef) in my cart. I don't love this option either. I'm sure I'll write about my soy conundrum someday, but my neighbor is on her way to take me to the farmers' market and I need some ground beef. Thankful to have a farmers' market nearby, thankful to have the means to shop there, and thankful to have time to cook healthy food for my family. But what about those who have to buy ammonia-laced pink slime because it's fast and it's cheap, and they have little time or money?